"Pursue, keep up with, circle round and round your life, as dog does his master's chaise. Do what you love. Know your own bone, gnaw at it, bring it, unearth it, and gnaw it still." --Henry David Thoreau

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Tuesday, October 24, 2006

For the Ladies: Five Reasons To Watch the World Series Tonight

I’m watching the World Series again this year. I've offered some advice in the past for ladies trying to enjoy baseball, and if you find yourself roped into game three tonight or beyond, there is a lot going on to help the non-fan stay interested.1.The Tigers are a Cinderella story. This team had one of the worst records and biggest losing streaks in the history of the sport. Some sports commentators were even calling for the Tigers to be retracted (or kicked out) of baseball. I think maybe they would have just been relocated, but still, no baseball in Detroit. Of course, some might say that the Cardinals, with their "meh" record, got lucky and had more of a fairy godmother than the unlikely Tigers

2.Jim Leyland is awesome. He is the coach of the Tigers (old dude touching his nose on left) and he always says what he means, unlike other coaches who act like everything is going as planned. Listen to his interviews, he’s no nonsense in that cute old man cranky kind of way. I wish he was my grandpa.3.There is a controversy. My new favorite pitcher Kenny Rogers (yes, that’s his real name) had a “substance” on his hand. And, the sports world is all aflutter. I’d bet the farm that it was pine tar (that a sticky brown substance that they use on bats to make players grip better). Because there is NO way a pitcher would not be aware of a quarter of his hand being covered in something. I mean spit or sweat can have a huge impact on a pitch (which is why they aren’t supposed to use it) and you’re telling me he just didn’t know something was there? P.S. It was freezing ass cold at Tiger's Comerica Park (no grip on the ball) and he hadn't batted, which maybe is where is came from (because pitchers don’t in the American League). Anyway, the coach of the Cardinals handled it pretty classily in my opinion, but there will always be a little question. The NYTimes also did a good piece about “mischief on the mound” if you’re interested in who else has tried to pull a fast one.

4.Every out has a strategy. Something that’s really helped me appreciate baseball more is to think of each inning as a series of 6 outs (for 54 in total). How to get each out is a strategy based on many, many factors, including your pitcher, the opposition’s line-up / who is batting next and what kind of pitch will most likely result in getting the out. Because a strike isn’t a type of pitch (like a curve ball or knuckle ball or fast ball), it’s the result of the pitcher out maneuvering the batter and getting him to swing at something, which results in a strike or out. It took me a while to put that together. So it’s interesting to see what kind of pitch the batter thinks is going to be thrown, what it actually looks like when it’s screaming his way and how that batter reacts.

5.Tonight will be a great game. The series is tied so tonight will be an exciting game. It's in St. Louis (they are getting a World Series for the first year their new park is open!). The Cardinals have an exciting young pitcher (call him Carp like the boys do) and the "Soup" pitching the next night, both are great to watch. However, I learned that the Tigers also have a real lefty badass on the mound, too, Robertson, who just this season took a line drive in the ribs, but stayed in the game to throw four more shutout innings. Two great pitchers battling it out after out...should make for a great game.

I hope this help and who knows, maybe if you're nice he'll flip back to Veronika Mars or Nip/Tuck during commercials :)

That really was a great post! I'm still not going to watch, though. But not because I don't like baseball, I do. I used to do all of my projects in elementary school on it (DORK)...I just can't be a slave to the game times right now. I know, I know..Lame!